- Title:
- "Behold: in the Visions of Elohim Jehovah, behold Joseph & Mary..." (Plate 61)
- Part Of:
Collective Title: Jerusalem: The Emanation of The Giant Albion, Copy E
- Date:
- 1804 to 1820
- Materials & Techniques:
- Relief etching printed in orange ink, with watercolor and pen and black ink on moderately thick, smooth, cream wove paper
- Dimensions:
- Sheet: 13 1/2 x 10 3/8 inches (34.3 x 26.4 cm), Plate: 8 7/8 x 5 5/8 inches (22.5 x 14.3 cm)
- Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in orange ink, upper right: "61"
Lettered inside image: "Behold: in the Visions of Elohim Jehovah, behold Joseph & Mary, | And be comforted, O Jerusalem, in the Visions of Jehovah Elohim. | She looked & saw Joseph the Carpenter in Nazareth, & Mary | His espoused Wife. And Mary said, If thou put me away from thee | Dost thou not murder me? Joseph spoke in anger & fury, Should I | Marry a Harlot & an Adulteress? Mary answer'd, Art thou more pure | Than thy Maker, who forgiveth Sins & calls again Her that is Lost? | Tho' She hates, he calls her again in love. I love my dear Joseph, | But he driveth me away from his presence, yet I hear the voice of God | In the voice of my Husband: tho' he is angry for a moment, he will not | Utterly cast me away : if I were pure, never could I taste the sweets | Of the Forgive[ne]ss of Sins; if I were holy, I never could behold the tears | Of love! of him who loves me in the midst of his anger in furnace of fire. | Ah my Mary! said Joseph, weeping over & embracing her closely in | His arms: Doth he forgive Jerusalem & not exact Purity from her who is | Polluted. I heard his voice in my sleep & his Angel in my dream: | Saying, Doth Jehovah Forgive a Debt only on condition that it shall | Be Payed ? Doth he Forgive Pollution only on conditions of Purity ? | That Debt is not Forgiven! That Pollution is not Forgiven! | Such is the Forgiveness of the Gods, the Moral Virtues of the | Heathen, whose tender Mercies are Cruelty. But Jehovah's Salvation | Is without Money & without Price, in the Continual Forgiveness of Sins, | In the Perpetual Mutual Sacrifice in Great Eternity! for behold, | There is none that liveth & Sinneth not! And this is the Covenant | Of Jehovah: If you Forgive one-another, so shall Jehovah Forgive You: | That He Himself may Dwell among You. Fear not then to take | To thee Mary thy Wife, for she is with Child by the Holy Ghost. | Then Mary burst forth into a Song: she flowed like a River of | Many Streams in the arms of Joseph, & gave forth her tears of joy | Like many waters, and Emanating into gardens & palaces upon | Euphrates, & to forests & floods & animals wild & tame from | Gihon to Hiddekel, & to corn fields & villages & inhabitants | Upon Pison & Arnon & Jordan. And I heard the voice among | The Reapers, Saying, Am I Jerusalem the lost Adulteress? or am I | Babylon come up to Jerusalem? And another voice answer 'd, Saying: | Does the voice of my Lord call me again? am I pure thro' his Mercy | And Pity? Am I become lovely as a Virgin in his sight, Who am | Indeed a Harlot drunken with the Sacrifice of Idols, does he | Call her pure as he did in the days of her Infancy, when She | Was cast out to the loathing of her person? The Chaldean took | Me from my Cradle. The Amalekite stole me away upon his Camels, | Before I had ever beheld with love the Face of Jehovah : or known | That there was a God of Mercy: O Mercy, O Divine Humanity! | Forgiveness & Pity & Compassion! If I were Pure I should never | Have known Thee: If I were Unpolluted I should never have | Glorified thy Holiness, or rejoiced in thy great Salvation. | Mary leaned her side against Jerusalem, Jerusalem recieved | The Infant into her hands in the Visions of Jehovah. Times passed on: | Jerusalem fainted over the Cross & Sepulcher. She heard the voice: | Wilt thou make Rome thy Patriarch Druid, & the Kings of Europe his | Horsemen? Man in the Resurrection changes his Sexual Garments at Will: | Every Harlot was once a Virgin: every Criminal an Infant Love!"
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1992.8.1(61)
- Classification:
- Prints
- Collection:
- Prints and Drawings
- Subject Terms:
- birds | literary theme | religious and mythological subject | text
- Access:
- Accessible in the Study Room [Request]
- Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:3494
- Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
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